I Loved Jeremy Allen White Before You Did
A January 2024 recap of Calvin Culture.
I am no longer allowed to hate January because my fiancé decided to be born during this frigid month of despair, and I’m very happy for his existence. That said, the month has felt long and dreary, as always, and I’ve accomplished very little. Anyone else feeling this? Our ability to endure such prolonged periods of gray sky and broken resolutions is a testament to human resilience. Time to start planning a vacation!
Anyway. Meteorologists agree that the hottest day in January was when Jeremy Allen White’s underwear campaign for Calvin Klein was released.
Whether or not you agree with the sexualization of celebrity for profit, it’s undeniable that the steamy campaign had the nation panting. We learned as a culture, sex still sells. White looks impossibly toned in tantalizing video and images of him stripping to his boxers, sprawling on questionable rooftop sofas, and pulling down his waistband to reveal what The Guardian names “love lines” (presumably “cum gutters” is frowned upon by their Style Guide).
All I have to say about this is that if you’re just now falling for JAW due to this presciently-timed campaign and his two Golden Globes for The Bear—you can back the fuck off! I’ve been a drooling fan since Showtime’s Shameless, on which White played the incredibly smart but equally reckless eldest brother Lip.
If you haven’t seen Shameless, I HIGHLY recommend. I’ve yet to see another show so successfully teeter between gritty emotional realism and irreverent absurdist comedy. Sure, the later seasons after Emmy Rossum leaves the series are not great, but it’s a fascinating family saga of the grit and grime of life on the fringes and explores taboo subjects with a memorable no-holds-barred attitude that you just don’t see today.
So my first official Calvin Culture January 2024 reco is a television show that premiered thirteen years ago. Deal with it!
Here’s a look back at more things I’ve enjoyed or thought about this January:
FILM:
I watched 22 films this month (barring anything I decide to watch tonight). I kicked off the new year with a rewatch of Citizen Kane. One of my 2024 film resolutions is to watch all of the films on the AFI Top 100 List. Many, like Citizen Kane, I’ve already seen, but it is well worth the rewatch! If you haven’t see this classic and are daunted by its old-timey, black-and-white vibes, don’t be! It’s highly watchable and perfect for anyone who’s interested in the news media industry or who loved Succession.
Other film recos from what I watched this month:
Dark Waters (2019) — heady environmental legal thriller
Eileen (2023) — film noir (see She Hath Done It Again)
Society of the Snow (2023) — harrowing disaster film, based on real events
The Zone Of Interest (2023) — will leave you feeling numb
Dumb Money (2023) — an easy watch, funny and engaging
As always, for more detailed recos and reviews, follow my Letterboxd diary.
Lastly, I finished watching all of the Alien franchise films. I mostly enjoyed them all. What’s not to love about aliens? I was pleasantly surprised by the more recent installments and actually enjoyed them more than some of the older sequels (which is unusual). Of course, I’m partial to the original for the #1 spot. Here was my ranking:
BOOKS:
I’m behind on my reading goals. Shocker! This month I read Eileen and The Color Purple and really loved both (see past Substack letters for deets).
Currently, I’m a bit stuck on Prophet Song. It was the winner of the 2023 Booker Prize, so I do want to finish it. It’s oddly both gripping AND boring? Definitely overwritten in a way that’s making me pick it up in short spurts. More to come once I finish!
MUSIC:
I’m loving the apocalyptic energy the AI-generated Spotify daylists are giving. My current daylist is titled: dark classical royalcore afternoon. Shakespeare could never.
The vibes this month were mostly podcasts, Fiona Apple’s Tidal, Ariana Grande’s yes, and?, the Broadway cast recordings for Mean Girls and The Color Purple (for obvious reasons), some Tune-Yards and Sufjan Stevens (Carrie & Lowell is perfect for January).
I also listened through Green Day’s Dookie and American Idiot for the first time in a long time as a primer to the third and final installment in that trilogy: the 2024 Green Day album Saviors.
What can I say, I liked it? I’m not a big punk person. I can’t imagine listening to it often, and by its nature, it could never achieve the nostalgic grip of American Idiot, but the album successfully navigates themes of societal disillusionment and personal redemption with a raw energy reminiscent of Green Day’s early punk roots. It was what I think they were going for and a fun soundtrack for an afternoon at the gym.
TELEVISION
[SPOILER AHEAD]: Lisa Ann Walter won Celebrity Jeopardy!! This was a big TV moment in our household, and I’m so proud. She played such a great game!
I haven’t been watching that much else…
I mentioned in a previous post that I finished both The Boys and Gen V, two connected series with a contemporary twist on superheroes. I thought they were both fun.
This season of Drag Race is… fine. The live sketch comedy in last week’s episode made me want to crawl under my bed and renounce my homosexuality, but it’s all good.
Currently finishing up The Crown. You can’t go wrong here. It’s a great show, but I’m glad it’s ending as my interest in the history wanes season by season.
FOOD
Recap of my experience at The Office Of Mr Moto here. This was by far the best food worth mentioning in the month of January. Check it out if you can!
Kevin and I also tried Antidote in Williamsburg for the first time this month. The restaurant offers a contemporary take on Shanghai-style cuisine and has a fun, buzzing energy—but it was deafening. We could barely hear each other the entire time, which is not ideal for a person like me who easily succumbs to auditory overload.
The food itself is quite salty, but in an addictive and expected way for Chinese food. The cocktails were AWESOME, bold and creative. They are most famous for their Tea Smoked Duck (too fatty for me) and Dandan Noodles (delicious, fiery), but I enjoyed the veggie dishes most. We got the cucumber salad, which was coated in a bright scallion and ginger sauce, and the eggplants with garlic sauce ended up being my star dish of the night: a generous portion of rich umami flavor and not too mushy.
So there you have it! As frosty as I am toward the month of January, I did get a lot of film watching done, some wedding planning (anyone wanna Venmo me?), and I kept my resolution of posting weekly on this Substack account. I’ll call that a win.
I’m loving the snark this week lol. Also you are not alone on struggling with the pace of prophet song! Lots of people at book club on Monday felt the same